New to dosing kalkwasser

Tangina20 · Jan 11, 2019

I’m starting to have a large amount of lps and sps in my reef and just started testing for cal and alk. My alk is at 7 and cal is at 340. I’m looking into dosing kalkwasser or soda lime in my auto top off but I read that it can increase ph too high. Right now my ph is sitting at about 8.2-8.3 how much more will kalk raise my ph??

vanpire · Jan 11, 2019

Alk will definitely raise your Ph. I use AlK for just that reason. My corals love Ph 8.3 or higher. They grow great even at 8.4 or 8.5. I never got above 8.5.

vanpire · Jan 11, 2019

multiple posts

vanpire · Jan 11, 2019

multuple post

Tangina20 · Jan 11, 2019

vanpire said:
multuple post

There is only 1 post why are you posting multiple posts

Tangina20 · Jan 11, 2019

vanpire said:
Alk will definitely raise your Ph. I use AlK for just that reason. My corals love Ph 8.3 or higher. They grow great even at 8.4 or 8.5. I never got above 8.5.

My alk is at 7 so it isn’t too slow should I just dose calcium?

rushbattle · Jan 11, 2019

Tangina20 said:
My alk is at 7 so it isn’t too slow should I just dose calcium?

I would adjust up with CaCl slowly, over 3-4 days, if Ca is that low. Double check that Ca number is correct though. Maybe do some water changes to make sure all chemistry is somewhat reset and take another test first?

What are you supplementing alkalinity (carbonate) and calcium with now?

nereefpat · Jan 11, 2019

Tangina20 said:
I’m starting to have a large amount of lps and sps in my reef and just started testing for cal and alk. My alk is at 7 and cal is at 340. I’m looking into dosing kalkwasser or soda lime in my auto top off but I read that it can increase ph too high. Right now my ph is sitting at about 8.2-8.3 how much more will kalk raise my ph??

1.25% of tank volume of saturated limewater will raise pH 0.7 units. But that would have to be all at once, and the effect is only temporary. So in a 100 gallon volume, you would have to pour in over a gallon all at once to raise pH that much.

I wouldn't worry about kalk raising your pH too high.

I would probably recommend using baking or washing soda to raise the alk 0.5-1.0 dKH. Then using bulk calcium chloride to raise the Ca to about 400ppm. Then add some kalk to top-off (it doesn't have to be full strength), test daily for alk and Ca, and see how it goes.

Limewater in ATO can work. Some folks don't recommend it because evap changes by the season, while alk demand is more stable. You might look into some sort of timed pump or dosing system.

GMay · Jan 11, 2019

I would not recommend calcium hydroxide (Kalk) addition via the ATO. Evaporation changes alone will make it hard to maintain a constant alkalinity and calcium. You would be better off using a dosing pump that adds Kalk in small doses every hour. This will provide the best result with the least risk to your tank.

rushbattle · Jan 11, 2019

GMay said:
I would not recommend calcium hydroxide (Kalk) addition via the ATO. Evaporation changes alone will make it hard to maintain a constant alkalinity and calcium. You would be better off using a dosing pump that adds Kalk in small doses every hour. This will provide the best result with the least risk to your tank.

That is what I do, I dose every 30 minutes for 24hr/day. Easy to set the on time on my dosing pump to adjust daily dose.

Hitman · Jan 12, 2019

I agree kalk not only is kalk addiction unstable in a ato but hard on pumps. I use a doser and dose 20 ml every 15 minutes, 1 ml CA every hour, and 1 ml Alk every hour. This keeps my 240 gallon tank at 9 dkh, and 420 ppm CA with ph at 8.32 during the day and 8.21 at night per apex.

Tangina20 · Jan 12, 2019

Does anyone have affordable recommendations on a dosing pump? I don’t really know much about them.

rushbattle · Jan 12, 2019

Tangina20 said:
Does anyone have affordable recommendations on a dosing pump? I don’t really know much about them.

I know you already mentioned this, but confirming you mean a pump for Kalkwasser?

Tangina20 · Jan 12, 2019

rushbattle said:
I know you already mentioned this, but confirming you mean a pump for Kalkwasser?

Or 2 part, I’ve never looked in to dosing pumps but since my calcium is so low I might need to look in to it. I’m fine with manually dosing as well does anyone else do this?

CircleCityBill · Jan 12, 2019

Tangina20 said:
Does anyone have affordable recommendations on a dosing pump? I don’t really know much about them.

I would recommend a peristaltic pump on a timer. I have used the Litermeter basic pump for a number of years--seems really solid. https://spectrapure.com/DOSING-TOP-OFF/LITERMETER-DOSING-SYSTEMS/Basic-LiterMeter-Dosing-Pump
Also have an Avast peristaltic pump. Slightly cheaper, but has a slower flow rate. https://avastmarine.com/collections/avast-built/products/peristaltic-pump-for-auto-top-off

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 12, 2019

Tangina20 said:
f but I read that it can increase ph too high. ?

I've really never seen good examples of that. Most reef tanks have more tan enough aeration and/or elevated CO2 in the home air to keep pH from getting too high.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 12, 2019

Tangina20 said:
Or 2 part, I’ve never looked in to dosing pumps but since my calcium is so low I might need to look in to it. I’m fine with manually dosing as well does anyone else do this?

I'd make a one time correction to calcium with calcium chloride, then use limewater/kalkwasser or a two part equally until calcium deviates substantially again. It may be low due to a low calcium salt mix and/or a lower than 35 ppt salinity.

nereefpat · Jan 12, 2019

Tangina20 said:
Does anyone have affordable recommendations on a dosing pump? I don’t really know much about them.

I use an aqua lifter on a light timer to pump limewater. Runs a couple minutes every couple hours.

Can't get any more affordable than that.

Tangina20 · Jan 12, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'd make a one time correction to calcium with calcium chloride, then use limewater/kalkwasser or a two part equally until calcium deviates substantially again. It may be low due to a low calcium salt mix and/or a lower than 35 ppt salinity.

I keep mine at 1.025 should I raise it?

Tangina20 · Jan 12, 2019

I did a 15% water change yesterday and calcium only went up to 360 and alk is still st 7, I’m thinking about going to petco to get some sea chem reef advantage calcium and baking soda to raise the numbers until I figure out what I’m gonna do about dosing. Would you guys recommend I just bring calcium up to 400 right away or slowly over a few days??

rushbattle · Jan 12, 2019

Tangina20 said:
I did a 15% water change yesterday and calcium only went up to 360 and alk is still st 7, I’m thinking about going to petco to get some sea chem reef advantage calcium and baking soda to raise the numbers until I figure out what I’m gonna do about dosing. Would you guys recommend I just bring calcium up to 400 right away or slowly over a few days??

Seems like a reasonable plan. If you are certain about salinity then I would do as you propose, over 2-3 days. What are you using to measure salinity, which kit for Alk and Ca, and what salt mix are you using?

Tangina20 · Jan 12, 2019

rushbattle said:
Seems like a reasonable plan. If you are certain about salinity then I would do as you propose, over 2-3 days. What are you using to measure salinity, which kit for Alk and Ca, and what salt mix are you using?

I’m using reef crystals for salt, api for test kits and a refractometer